East Anglia Transport Museum
The East Anglia Transport Museum is an open air transport museum, with numerous historic public transport vehicles (including many in full working order). It is located in Carlton Colville a suburb of Lowestoft, Suffolk. It is the only museum in the country where visitors can ride on buses, trams and trolleybuses, as a well as a narrow gauge railway. What the Museum offers The museum has many exhibits ranging from a 1904 Lowestoft Corporation tram to a 1983 Sinclair C5. Tram rides are available on a route passing the museum's trolleybus depot and up to a terminus at Woodside. Originally, the trolleybus route extended as far as the trolleybus depot where passengers could change for a ride on the museum's 2 ft gauge railway to Chapel Road (the other end of the tram route), or they could stay on the trolleybus whilst it performed a 3-point turn and returned to the museum entrance via the same route. 12 July 2008 marked Britain's first trolleybus extension for many decades through the creation of a loop along the Back Road, linking in with the existing overhead wiring near to the museum's entrance. This follows the tarmacadaming of the Back Road, which previously had been a muddy field, and the renaming of this to Herting Street - in honour of the gentleman whose generous donation made these works possible. The museum has the last trolleybus to operate under its own power in London, No. 1521. Origins The museum was founded on its present site in 1965, following the rescue of the body of an old Lowestoft tram (number 14) which had been used for a number of years as a summerhouse. The site at Carlton Colville was formerly a meadow, donated by the founder and first chairman of the Museum Society. The first buildings on the site were constructed in 1966, but it was not until 1981 that full tram and trolleybus operations could commence following the construction of a suitable roadway. The Museum's narrow gauge railway (the "East Suffolk Light Railway") opened in 1973. Exhibits Trams *11 English Electric 1939 Blackpool Corporation (recently restored) *14 Milnes (Tram builder) 1904 Lowestoft Corporation Tramways (undergoing on site restoration) *159 English Electric 1927 Blackpool Corporation *474 Beijnes 1929 Amsterdam Tramways *1858 English Electric 1930 London Transport *513 English Electric 1950 Sheffield corporation (on loan) (currently undergoing repairs) Trolleybuses * 1 Privately owned German Trolleybus * 5 Garrett 1926 Copenhagen * 34 Sunbeam 1947 Hastings Corporation * 52 BUT 1953 Maidstone Corporation Transport * 87 BUT 1956 Ashton-Under-Lyne Corporation * 202 Sunbeam 1935 Bournemouth Corporation * 224 Sunbeam 1953 Derby Corporation (away from museum undergoing restoration) * 237 Privately owned Trolleybus * 246 Sunbeam 1958 Belfast Corporation * 260 AEC 1936 London Transport * 286 Sunbeam 1959 Bournemouth Corporation * 313 BUT 1951 Portsmouth Corporation * 628 BUT 1950 Newcastle Corporation * 1201 Leyland 1938 London Transport * 1521 Chassisless Construction by Metro Cammell using AEC components 1940 London Transport Motorbuses * 4 AEC 1969 Lowestoft corporation * 13 Mercedes 1987 Lincolnshire Road Car * 21 AEC 1947 Lowestoft Corporation * 57 Bristol 1962 Eastern Counties * 85 AEC 1964 Great Yarmouth * VR385 Bristol 1972 Eastern Counties * LL408 Bristol 1948 Eastern Counties * RTL 1050 Leyland 1950 London Transport See also *List of transport museums *List of trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom *The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft *Black Country Living Museum - also with trolleybuses and trams Gallery File:K1 Telephone Box, Lowestoft Transport Museum, 13th June 2009.JPG|K1 Telephone Box, Lowestoft Transport Museum File:RAC roadside Telephone Box, Lowestoft Transport Museum 13th June 2009.JPG|RAC roadside Telephonebox External links * Museum website Category:Transport museums in England Category:Trolleybus transport in the United Kingdom Category:Museums in Suffolk Category:Bus museums in England Category:Waveney